Reviews with content warning for Blood - Death Valley

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Death Valley by Melissa Broder

13 reviews

growplantsreadbooks's review against another edition

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Definitely the most conventional Broder novel I've read, but by no means is it an easy book to enjoy. The main character, the landscape, the situations, and lessons learned are all larger than life. It's basically a gender swapped version of the classic "man who goes into nature and discovers empathy" trope. Broder balances humor, grief, magic, and faith well, but even her own character acknowledges that a novel about her dying father isn't super original.

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sarah_kula's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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caroisreading's review

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is my first Melissa Broder book, and now I'm a huge fan. I cracked up so many times during this read, and felt so much affection for this protagonist.

This is a story about staring death in the face, and the in-between space of anticipatory grief and grief grief. A scorching, unforgiving desert is the symbolic backdrop, as made obvious by the title. Our narrator is an author, who feels intimately modeled after Melissa, herself, and she is navigating her father's near-death, post-accident condition, as well as her husband's debilitating and amorphous illness. We join her as she's arriving at a Best Western in the middle of nowhere, carving out a space for her own self-pity, care and emotions, and ideally, some writing inspo. When she takes a desert hike on the recommendation of the hotel staff, it unleashes a wild fever dream, where we are trying to grasp the edges of reality and hope alongside her.

Let me just say, the line, "Listen, Best Western cares, but not this much" made me have to put the book down and howl-laugh.

Definitely read this book if you're exploring your own mortality, the meaning of your life, or experiencing grief, but need to laugh about it.

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libby_l96's review

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adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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grunbean's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I mulled this over, and I think this is one almost deserving of a five star. It’s cerebral, and can take some time to digest in parts. But I couldn’t put it down for long at all.

It’s a very reflective, and funny, story. Although I was in suspense for most of her journey! I think the prose is beautiful. I’m not sure how to describe this book in a few words. It’s different, that’s for sure.

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a_novel_craving's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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carly_reads's review

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emotional funny reflective

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“Help me not be empty,” I say to god in the Best Western parking lot.

If I’m honest, I came to escape a feeling- an attempt that’s already going poorly because unfortunately I’ve brought myself with me.

People are such a commitment. I would "reach out" more often if everyone promised not to check in again later.

I always say that I don’t believe a person has to suffer to make art. But that’s only because I imagine it’s true for others (also, I don’t want to be accused of inspiring teen suicide).

Melissa has such a distinct writing style, I think I could recognize it anywhere. She has the sharp ability to meld together big themes with the most absurd situations you could ever come up with. I feel like she’s also able to be concise with what she’s trying to say, but still make an impact. In this case, I think she’s making a statement about how you can’t avoid/escape your life and feelings forever as well as finding the silver linings in life despite circumstances. This felt like an exploration into depression, anticipatory grief, so much anxiety you can’t live your life, how the wants and needs of your inner child never go away, and searching for reasons that would make life meaningful.

This truly reads like a fever dream- very surreal and absurd but in a good way. I think it was very different than her other books. The main character is much more redeemable (imo lol). I appreciated the commentary about how hard being a caregiver for a loved one with a chronic illness can be. I think it’s unfair to assume that people don’t have less than positive feelings when put in that position despite wanting to be there for that person. I think the author does a good job saying things that a lot of people think but are too afraid to say (both in that context and generally).

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rosyapple's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

didn't enjoy this one. if it sounds interesting i would recommend mona awad's "alls well" instead. on the other hand if you enjoyed "something new under the sun" by alexandra kleeman then you probably would like this book

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breanneporter's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really like Melissa Broder’s voice as an author, and there was some really beautiful writing and commentary on grief in this, but it just didn’t hit for me. It follows a 41 year old author as she embarks on a trip to Death Valley in order to get inspiration for her in-process novel about a woman not unlike herself. During the journey she goes on hikes in the desert, finds and enters a magical cactus, gets lost, anthropomorphizes many many inanimate objects and animals, and confronts her grief and feelings around her father’s illness and her husband’s chronic pain. I read on audio and while I liked the protagonist, I found it hard to stay totally focused on the strange, meandering, half-real/half-imagined journey (without drifting back into my own thoughts). I think I may have enjoyed this more if I had read it with my eyes, and especially if I had recently processed/was processing a similar grief. Overall kind of a meh for me, though I wished I liked it more.

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kaseythefairy's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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